Greek Athletics in the Roman World

Victory and Virtue

Zahra Newby

Description

The enduring importance of Greek athletic training and competition during the period of the Roman Empire has been a neglected subject in past scholarship on the ancient world. This book examines the impact that Greek athletics had on the Roman world, approaching it through the plentiful surviving visual evidence, viewed against textual and epigraphic sources. It shows that the traditional picture of Roman hostility has been much exaggerated. Instead Greek athletics came to exercise a profound influence upon Roman spectacle and bathing culture. In the Greek east of the empire too, athletics continued to thrive, providing Greek cities with a crucial means of asserting their cultural identity while also accommodating Roman imperial power.

Greek Athletics in the Roman World

Victory and Virtue

Zahra Newby

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Greeks, Romans, and Athletics in the Roman WorldI. Athletics in the Roman West 2. Greek Athletics in the Heart of Rome3. Visualizing Athletics in the Roman Baths4. Idealized Statues in Roman VillasII. Athletics and Identity in the Greek East 5. Training Warriors: The Merits of a Physical Education6. The Athenian Ephebeia: Performing the Past7. Olympia and Pausanias' Construction of Greece8. Gymnasia, Festivals, and Euergetism in Asia MInor9. Conclusions